Montreal,
Oct. 15. Air Canada admits it was caught 'flat-footed' when an Air
Canada flight to Calgary was forced to land in Winnipeg after an in-flight
incident. According to Air Canada, the flight was forced to land after
the pilot radioed ground controllers that a hi-jacking was taking place.

Though the incident turned
out to be a hoax, the plane was forced down after two scrambled F-18s had
'bumped' the jet and made several threatening passes. In accordance with
the government's new anti-terrorist policy, the jets were preparing to
shoot down the 757 with 20 mm. cannon but, fortunately, the plane landed
at Winnipeg before the Prime Minister could give authorization. Only Prime
Minister Chrétien can authorize the shooting down of an airliner
that is suspected to have fallen into terrorists hands. Luckily, at the
time of the incident, he was giving a Liberal fundraising speech to an
enthusiastic audience of Montreal-based defence contractors. Before the
end of his speech, which netted the Liberals $5 million for their War Chest,
the plane had already landed at Winnipeg.

The hoaxer, who will remain
under observation in the geriatric wing of the Winnipeg Police Hospital
until the Minister of Justice decides what to do with her, is an 87-year-old,
white-haired great-great-grandmother, who admits that she is a member of
the militant 'Raging Grannies'. The fragile, gentle faced old lady told
police she was concerned that air travel wasn't safe enough and that terrorists
could board 'any aircraft' doing just what she did.

What she did, according to
police, is that she had tucked a sharp, 12" long, serrated edged, hard
plastic butcher knife into her panty hose close to her inner thigh. The
plastic knife was not detected by the usual metal-detecting wand lightly
passed over her during the pre-boarding security check. Given the location
of the potential weapon and its nature, only a strip search would have
revealed its presence. (As yet, strip searches are not made of passengers
during pre-boarding, but Transport Canada is said to be considering such
a step.)

During the flight, after
visiting the toilet at the back of the aircraft, the woman had emerged
brandishing the knife and began running up and down the aisle screaming,
"I'm going to slit the throat of the pilot and anyone who tries to stop
me!" Before the stunned crew and passengers could react, she stopped at
the locked cockpit door and threw the knife down. Then she turned and addressed
the now terrified passengers. "Take it easy everybody, I'm not a terrorist,
I'm really a very gentle person and wouldn't hurt a fly. I just wanted
to make a point," she said.

According to police, her
point is that the new rules are wrong in that the government won't permit
the pilots to be armed or have armed air marshals flying undercover in
passenger jets. The government's rationale, according to David Collenette,
The Minister of Transport, is that Canada is a law-abiding, peaceful nation
and guns don't belong in airplanes. But at the same time, she told police
that an airliner, "carrying hundreds of innocent passengers, can be shot
down by air force jets on the PM's OK. That is truly terrifying," the old
woman said.

This incident, and the fact
that armed RCMP undercover officers are flying in Canadian aircraft landing
at Reagan National Airport in Washington, the government may revisit the
'no guns in airplanes' policy.